Going down the CCNA route

[*JimmyJ*]

Hey guys,

A few tech heads on here so thought I'll ask the question. Long and a short of it I'm getting into Cisco stuff, going down the ccna route. Currently join a new company that has a large network which is Cisco 100%. In the last few months I've been playing with packet tracer and learning the IOS etc. I have above basic / average knowledge of networking but feel there is still lots to learn (as with anything I.T). My question is, playing with simulators is great but playing with the actual equipment is 2nd to none. Been looking on the bay and have seen some equipment which I could use to further my knowledge, but whats the best kit to get?

 

[Steveball]

This

 

[Paprika123]

That looks not bad for the money tbh and is about all you need for good practice.

[h=1][/h]

 

[ThomasBrentnall]

That's a good shout from steve, maybe the company has some spare cisco stuff they will let you practise with?

I want to do some Cisco stuff, but at current we only have 1 Cisco router. All of our Cisco gear was replaced with HP a couple of years ago, but would love to be Cisco certified for future jobs

 

[*JimmyJ*]

Just had a double check at work and they have lots of spare devices laying round. Question is how many switches / routers (model) should I be looking to use?

 

[msremmert]

They changed the certification at the end of September so I'm now unsure what the actual requirements are. I recently got myself certified but you're in a better place than I am and you have a bit of experience. It's been hard work for me to get people to take me seriously.
They still break it into the ICND1 and 2 which makes the learning less of a mouthful. Personally I did one then the other.

As I did mine only a couple of months ago, I found the most thorough way was to break it up into multiple sources.
The Jeremy Cioara lectures are excellent and break it down beautifully.
https://www.cbtnuggets.com/it-certifications/56440
I leave it up to you how you put your hands on these videos, they're very popular. :rasp:
You only want the top two courses but you can see there's 36 hours of lectures alone.

Jeremy gives you a very good understanding and makes it so simple to understand - but don't just go on the lectures alone - however they'll get you about 75% of the way there though.
Equipment is awesome to use.
I have 3x 2620XM Routers and 2x 2950 Switches just so I could play with STP etc and have been great to use while watching the lectures but I can say, hand-on-heart that I would not have passed without the Todd Lammle book. It was invaluable to my passing and I recommend reading the book front start to finish once you've done the video lectures as it fills in all the gaps and you'll be a true CCNA after it.
Also practise questions. Practise is essential! I have lots if you'd like me to email you some.

Book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1118749618/?tag=cliospnet01-21

From experience, the exams are multiple choice but you cannot bulls**t them. You either know them or you don't and they love throwing massive simulations at you 2 minutes before your time is up so you've got to be able to work fast. Realistically for the straight-up multiple choice ones you want to be under 30 seconds just so you can relax during the simulations.

I just started the CCNA Security and it's very interesting stuff.
Feel free to PM me or add me on Facebook and we can have a chat about cars and networking if you like. My two favourite subjects. :rasp:

 

[sbridgey]

I'm watching Jeremy's CCNP video's at the moment, they are brilliant.

 

[msremmert]

There's a good number of very clever folk in IT (or at least have good understanding) on this forum. That's one of the reasons I like it here.

 

[*JimmyJ*]

Cheers guys great info
msremmert I'll PM you!